After months of development and soak tests, Motorola's David Schuster has announced that Android 5.1 is rolling out to the Pure Edition 2014 Moto X. He didn't specify if the OTA would be available to everyone immediately, but it can't hurt to head to the update menu and press the "check" button a few hundred times.

The last we heard, Android 5.1 was being rolled out in an expanded soak test just to make sure everything was solid. The first Android 5.1 soak test started rolling out nearly two months ago. That was last week and we were told that the update could be final this week, which it is. The update to 5.1 will include system optimizations, improved heads-up notifications, and a new flashlight gesture.

Image via JR Raphael.

If you can't get the update to pop up on your phone yet, I'm sure you'll be able to find the OTA ZIP re-hosted somewhere. Motorola also hosts system images in the event you've flashed to one of the leaked soak tests and want to get back on the official path. Other versions of the Moto X will be updated later after the OTA has been approved by carriers. Sad, I know.

Comments

I like the new Flashlight action. It takes a few tries to get it down exactly.

FernandoRocker

No love for the Moto G? D:

Tykin

As a Moto X 2014 owner, I'd like to point out that it took Motorola longer to roll out 5.1 to their Pure edition than it did for Samsung to roll out 5.1.1 to carriers.

That's disappointing, Moto.

Shawn Drape

I agree. I bought my Moto X because of their excellent update speed and support under Google. The 2013 phone got updates to 4.4 really fast. With the current priorities, it's been much slower. Feels like a bait and switch, really.

someone755

I don't think I'll ever understand why Google sold Moto.
They made a goddamn phone together. But only AFTER they sold Moto, what the heck!?

Cael

Samsung is the reason why Google sold Moto.

Greyhame

You're probably not far off. However, it's not like Google hasn't thrown reason/caution to the wind - and hundreds of millions in cash with it. Anecdotal, sure, but also probably not far off.

Moto and Google seemed like a match made in heaven.. really sad that Motorola is no longer an American company. Look at all the talent that vanished during/after the sale. Selling an American technology and electronics stalwart to a foreign company was one of the worst things Google has ever done, IMO.

tintin.92

I thought Samsung was the reason they bought Moto

Daniel Marcus

Both Google and Motorola have stated multiple times that while Motorola was owned by Google they received no input and no preferential treatment over other manufacturers. Google cut their staff, and funded them enough to get them ready to sell, and kept their patents and advanced tech team.

Perhaps their tumultuous corporate ownership had some play in this? Not sure, but I imagine that has to impact things like this.

JG

When they pulled the soak test at the start of June I was really hoping they might have used 5.1.1 to fix the bug they had discovered... And even more so hoped they might have used the T-Mobile N6 5.1.1 build as a base. Then we might have gotten WiFi calling as well.

I know the X isn't technically a T-Mobile phone (for whatever reason) but it would have been nice to get the upgrade none the less.

Yeah! I paid $600 for a "Pure" phone to get early access and escape carrier delays, only to see Brazil, US Cellular, and other Moto x 2014s get updates first. Let alone phones like the sammy you mentioned.

Our Pure editions have been slow, buggy pieces of crap since we bought them because of the memory leak. Mine is instantly better today. I hope the speed holds up (It was also fast for the first few days when new).

I am not happy to have paid so much money to have a buggy phone with slow updates and fixes.

Warren Skipper

I'm just as disappointed in Motorola's massive fail with their updates but you can't compare Moto's 5.x to Samsung's versions. Fact is Samsung is not providing a true Lollipop experience, they're providing an updated TouchWiz experience. The two don't compare in any way.

JaxVenture

Was available this morning thought little disappointed that it is not 5.1.1...

Alex

Motorola cmon! Give at last 5.1.1 for Moto G 2013...

blahmoomoo

It appears that they are also updating the original 5.1 soak test version, or whatever was posted as a 5.0->5.1 OTA link here a while ago that I installed. I got the update this morning, but I didn't take the time to snag the link. Sorry.

Seems like Motorola product quality and OS updates have gotten worse under Lenovo ownership. Take, for example, the 2013 Moto G was the best and has gotten worse with 2nd gen and 3rd gen looks cheap and plasticky.

Aaron O.

Does the Net110 version receive the same updates as the pure edition?

Zp15

I'm pretty sure, yes.

IcarusFlies

Can any of you clever tech heads tell my why there can't be a one size fits all ROM for Lollipop....I mean how come each phone needs separate update so the whole process takes forever and then your phone misses out?
The whole system seems wrong IMO

CoreRooted

Simple answer: Drivers and binaries differ between manufacturers and sometimes even individual models.

Yes, are you knew to Android? The issue can be summarized as, with more variations of hardware there will be different drivers required, different binaries required, for that hardware. Even Samsung can't write a Lollipop update that will work across their entire Galaxy S6 line because the hardware is different across the S6, S6 Edge and S6 Active. Microsoft has some of the same issues with their ecosystem though less so because they tend to be very strict as to what chips/hardware manufacturers can use. Google isn't so strict. Apple is of course the most strict: they know that all their iPhone 6 will be using the same CPU, GPU, etc. even if screen size is different between 6 and 6+

EDIT: If the system seems wrong, you always have the option of leaving it behind. We gripe here but most decide that these disadvantages are outweighed by the benefits of being in the Android/Google ecosystem.

IcarusFlies

Thanks for the reply...no I am not new to android and have no desire to leave it behind as you say. I was simply curious now I understand phones have built in drivers and binaries unique to that model whereas I thought drivers and binaries were part of the software not the hardware. Obviously I was wrong,,,,,thanks again.

Daniel Marcus

Considering the quality of Lollipop for other phones, that's probably a bad idea. As near as I can tell, that's actually the primary cause of this delay. Motorola has made a commitment to keep Android as close to stock as possible, but Android 5.x has been fraught with bugs, memory leaks, and battery drain issues. Motorola's been doing a lot of quality control on the firmware.

I had downloaded the earlier (like months earlier) leaked 5.1 update which I believe won't have an OTA upgrade path to this. If anyone else out there is in the same situation as I am, you can request Motorola to share (via Google Drive) the file for the 5.0.2 image, flash that, and wait for the update. Or, what I plan on doing is that when they make the 5.1 image available, just request that and flash it clean.

I was using an soaktest version of 5.1 and was having the worst battery life inconsistencies. Sometimes it would last 14 hours others 20. It was also heating up my battery to 110+ degrees. I finally sent it in yesterday for a warranty replacement.

I hope the official 5.1 is better than what I had.

Daniel Marcus

It's worth noting, by the way, that it looks like the soak builds have an update mechanism as well. I was using the last soak test and got the update to the final build this morning.

dirtyjudo

I sure hope so. What build were you on?

Daniel Marcus

I don't remember the number, it was the very last soak test before this release.

Reese

And now the loooong wait for AT&T to add their crapware.

David Hyman

I had 5.1 a long time ago, am I missing something?

Sergio Velasquez

not only pure edition, i have a 1097 in movistar colombia , and i also got the update

M-ads Schultz

Anyone else having delays when they go to the home screen? My issue started AFTER upgrading to 5.1. I also find the flashlight action takes multiple tried to work.

n_s

Any idea whether this update has the full anti-theft device protection ? Moto said so in its release notes . Has anyone tried doing a wipe yet ?